Day 190 Two Views

June 17, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project
during my 70th years where I write and illustrate a blog on each
day’s gift.)

Another seasonal benchmark—the daylilies are here. These tall
orange flowers, the kind of perennial plant that grows and grows every year
without any special attention, are abundant in our yard. Many we brought back
from a friend’s yard in Long Island. She had too many. I always look forward to
daylilies because of their beauty and brilliant color. Within each bloom, a
bright yellow sun-like center radiates outward to form a bright stripe on each
of six petals with delicate red veins weaving through the orange. Nature has
formed its own tie-dye color pattern.

Orange sings out to me of vibrant optimism, energetic
adventure and passion. It is the color of flames, goldfish, candy corn, navel
oranges, clown fish, pumpkins, traffic cones, life rafts, sunsets, carrots, Orioles
and some cheeses. With its bold in-your-face/see-me color, they dot the June landscape
in this area. Sometimes they dot the plate too when gourmet cooks use the
edible petals for garnish and an artistic touch.

In all their glory, however, daylilies offer something other
than beauty to some creatures. Today as I was examining a cluster of my orange
daylilies, I noticed a delicate spider web with a long-legged spider in the
middle, waiting for dinner. It had used this bunch of flowers as anchors for its
web. I suppose people are not the only creatures who are drawn to bright
orange, but other insects that are drawn to it may become food for the spider.

Depending on one’s perspective, daylilies are either nature’s
art or handy support beams.